Cameron's My Girl
by goodmorningstarshine
Summary: My very first fanfic ever, so please be nice! I know there is no romance yet, but I hope to have worked it in within a few chapters. Now new and improved w Chapter 2!
1. Reflections and Losing One's Lunch

House characters, setting, etc. don't belong to me and Iwill notmake money off them. But I never refuse money, so if there is some non House related reason you want to give me money, just let me know.

Cameron had arrived late for work for the first time since receiving her medical licence. She had always been very particular about punctuality, not wanting to do anything to detract from her image as a professional, so she always left her apartment, only twenty minutes away from the hospital, an hour before her shift began. Life was often complicated for Cameron, who made dozens of tiny, inconvienent adjustments to her schedule every day to make sure there was no upheaval. Giving away parts of herself in exchange for peace was a routine she began before she ever entered medical school. It was her own, private, Hippocratic oath. "First, make no waves."

Being late made her nervous, and if she had realized how guilty she would feel beforehand, she probably would have left on time. She had been ready at the normal time, she had simply sat on the couch staring at the television and thinking of one of the dozens of ways she could have avoided the awkward situation that she was now in. If only she had dropped off her dry cleaning that day. If she had dropped it off before work, as she usually did, she would have left the hospital before she had stood in the harsh florescent light of the corrider and let House know how she felt about him. She wouldn't have had to pretend she wasn't falling apart while he looked at her gravely from his brilliant eyes.

The gravity bothered her. Why couldn't he have let her off the hook? One glib, sarcastic comment could have diffused the situation, and those were his specialty. She realized that when she thought things like this, she was shifting the blame onto him, and it made her angry with herself. She had told him she didn't like being dismissed and he had done her the courtesy of taking her seriously, of being honest with her. For the first time since she had met him he hadn't been using words as a barrier. She should be grateful.

She was still fifteen minutes early to work when she pulled in to the parking garage, but she knew she would be late by the time she got to House's office. She had made this unprecedented adjustment to her schedule to avoid her morning down time with House. She used to love sitting in his office, preparing the day's work while he read his newspaper. Foreman and Chase would come in and the three of them would discuss their weekends or the previous evening while House pretended not to listen. Until two weeks ago the joy of her day had been handing House his coffee. Their fingers would brush casually as she passed it to him and he would make some comment about how he had never used to enjoy coffee as much as when she started preparing it for him. Every morning since the evening when she had put it all on the line she had found a way to avoid preparing it. She noticed that he rarely finished his coffee since she had stopped.

She had climbed out of her car and was headed toward the entrance to the hospital when she saw the Mercedes parked in the rather large handicapped section of the garage. Her steps slowed as she wondered how he had managed to get a handicapped spot right by the door at a hospital. It was then that she saw him sitting in the car, attempting to gather his briefcase, cane, and a box of take out food for lunch. It was then that she remembered that today was Wednesday, his clinic day. House hated the hospital's food, and would rather skip a meal that have to eat there, so on clinic days, when he was much to busy to leave during his lunch break, he brought lunch with him to work.

Under normal circumstances Cameron would have rushed to help him, offering assistance while pretending that he didn't need it. Acting as though it would be a great honor to be allowed to carry his things for him, as a boy in junior high offers to carry a girl's books. She didn't want to act like that today, but she couldn't damage his pride by suggesting he needed help, so she stopped walking, hidden from House's view behind a large van.

She watched as he stood with his briefcase and grabbed his cane, half propped against the side of the car as he reached for his lunch. When he finished adjusting his items, he slammed the door to the car and started toward the door. Cameron felt guilty for being too proud to help him as she watched his awkward progress; the feeling was only increased when he stumbled and his container of spaghetti hit the concrete with an echoeing 'splat'. Cameron let out an audible gasp and had started forward when he regained his balance and let out a particularly creative curse. Shaking his head in disgust, he headed into the hospital.

Cameron waited several minutes before emerging from her hiding place. Stopping beside the Mercedes, she reached into her bag and removed her packet of tissues which she then used to wipe the splatter of pasta sauce off the bottom of the car's door and to scoop the spaghetti off the ground into its shattered container. She then dropped the remains into the trashcan as she hurried to the bathroom to wash her hands. She was going to be _**much**_ later than she planned.


	2. Paper Airplanes and Giving as Good as Yo...

They didn't have any patients again, so Cameron spent the early part of the morning doing paperwork while Foreman assisted Wilson. Chase and House decided to have a paper airplane flying contest, with her as the judge. They spent an hour making up a sheet of criteria for her to base her judging on. Most of the points were awarded for distance, but trick flying, flight arc, and how 'bad ass' the plane's overall appearance was were all additional points of interest. They typed a form up on House's computer and printed off four copies, one for each of the diagnosticians. House sent Chase to the resource center to laminate the sheets for long term use, and when he returned House handed Cameron two of the forms and a dry erase marker from their white board.

She pretended that she was focused on studying the "Judging Guidelines of Aerodynamic Perfection" as she watched the two of them make their airplanes. They were really going all out; they seemed to be taking it as seriously as any competitive sport she had seen. Once House looked up from the careful folding of his plane and caught her watching him, holding her gaze for several seconds. Her breath caught as they stared at each other from across the room and then he blinked once and continued working on his plane. It happened so quickly she wasn't sure if she had imagined it.

"Damn", Cameron thought as she looked back down at the laminated sheet, "Why can't we have a patient?" There was way too much time to spend watching House when there were no patients. The problem was, he looked adorable bending over his airplane, just as focused as he was when he was trying to figure out what was wrong with a patient. His brow was lined in his concentration and he was biting his lower lip in a distracting way. She reminded herself that she couldn't afford to be distracted by House for what seemed like the millionth time. He didn't like her. She'd do well to keep it in mind.

After what seemed like forever House and Chase decided they were ready for the contest and the trash talk began. Chase was no match for House in that department. "What's it been, 30 years since you've made one of these? Those are the wings...", Chase sniped, pointing to the wide slanted wings on House's plane.

"No, no, I've been making these all my life, Chase. I was raised in a middle class family of do-it-yourselfers.You're probably new to this though, right? I'm sure someone with your background had his daddy paying the butler to do that kind of thing for you...If you want to forfeit, I understand."

And so it went until they _finally _decided they would start the competition. House won. Although his plane wasn't so great with trick stunts, it certainly looked bad ass. It also flew 3.6 feet further than Chase's, on average during 10 flights. (They made her measure for posterity's sake.) House gloated, of course, but told Chase not to take it too badly. "I had an unfair advantage, after all." At Chase's curious look House motioned to Cameron. "The judge. She likes me _much _more than she likes you, don't you, sweetheart?"

She hated that. He knew what he was doing to her; she could tell by the look he was giving her. It was just like last week, when he had been arguing with Chase and Foreman and had turned to her saying "Cameron's my girl". The had wanted to look him in the eye and say, No, I'm not. But that would have been a lie. Yes, she was, and he was taking advantage of it. With every look, every word, every time he stood just a little to close to her, he was reminding her that she had feelings for him that he didn't return. Manipulating her. Suddenly she was angrier than she had ever been with him.

She stood and took four steps until she was standing directly in front of him, seeing the wariness in his eyes as he flinched back in an almost imperceptable manner. Looking into his eyes with an innocent expression, she placed one hand on his chest and one on his arm. She slowly trailed her fingers down his arm until she reached the paper airplane he was still numbly holding and gently pulled it away. She lifted the plane and trailed the tip lightly across his stubled cheek. "Of course I _like _you better than Chase, House. _I_ like everything about _you_: your sweet disposition, your ability to put people at ease with just a word, the way you go out of your way to make me comfortable, the way you tell the truth 100 of the time," She moved the hand that was resting against his chest up to the V of his shirt where two buttons remained unbuttoned and lightly trailed her fingers over the exposed flesh."In fact, I think you may be perfect, House". He was staring at her, unmoving, with an unfathomable expression, but she could feel his accelerated pulse beneath her fingers, so she pressed forward. They were now standing so close that the smell of his soap seemed to radiate off his skin. Slowly tucking the airplane in the pocket of his shirt, Cameron spoke in a voice was just above a breathy whisper. "Of course Dr. Cuddy won't think you're so perfect when you show up fifteen minutes late to clinic."

House looked at the clock on the wall, which read 10:45, muttered a few words nasty words, and strode out the door. Cameron paused a moment and grinned, following him to the door and calling out, "Oh, Dr. House?" she called to his retreating back "You seem to have forgotten your lab coat." He didn't stop.

Turning back into House's office, she saw Chase still standing by the whiteboard, dumbfounded. Suddenly all the excitement drained out of her as she realized that her momentary victory was about to make her life much more difficult. "Oh, pick your jaw up off the floor, Chase" she said irritably as she strode out of House's office toward the maternity ward's nursery.


End file.
